Suburbian madness?

Canadians just love decorating their front yards for any occasions. For me, it is still surprising that the entrance has no fence. It is completely normal here, but I grew up in Hungary where hiding behind the railing, tall bushes, all kinds of obstacles divide the traffic and the houses... and we would give a "useful" function for every square foot of space. Well here it's the opposite, people don't hang out much at the front, usually it's just the frame of show what they have, who they are. Status symbols, of course, but not only. I am more interested in other subjects. In this blog I'll bring a number of examples: baseball themed stuff animal scene (changing by season), animated figure projected on the garage door, sun and wind sensitive spinning structures, funny sculptures all year around - this is definitely not the fine art article yet. This house below is nothing extra, just a very old couple built it for Halloween. It took a couple of days to arrange everything. I did not see any children living there, but you can bet they've visited this house for a treat last weekend.

Maybe it's because the houses are quite lookalike otherwise: 4-5 types mostly. But the people are more diverse than any other place I've ever known. All ages need occasions like Halloween, birthdays, garage sales, book swaps, election campaigning, etc. to actually meet. Because all this openness stops at the door, everything behind, including the tiny backyards is private, covered, hidden, just like anywhere in the world. I was told about Toronto that where you can't see all this show, the ones with an actual tall wooden fence for example, are the most expensive properties. If they could afford a front yard, but they don't need to, it means something. Anyway, if I could solve more of the society puzzle, I'll let you know. At least my point of view, and you may add yours.

Altough we did get a quick snow storm two weeks ago, but ths picture was taken in December 2014

#Toronto #maple